Explicit mechanisms do not account for implicit localization and identification of change: An empirical reply to Mitroff et al. (2002).

Several recent findings support the notion that changes in the environment can be implicitly represented
by the visual system. S. R. Mitroff, D. J. Simons, and S. L. Franconeri (2002) challenged this view and
proposed alternative interpretations based on explicit strategies. Across 4 experiments, the current study
finds no empirical support for such alternative proposals. Experiment 1 shows that subjects do not rely
on unchanged items when locating an unaware change. Experiments 2 and 3 show that unaware changes
affect performance even when they occur at an unpredictable location. Experiment 4 shows that the
unaware congruency effect does not depend simply on the pattern of the final display. The authors point
to converging evidence from other methodologies and highlight several weaknesses in Mitroff et al.’s
theoretical arguments. It is concluded here that implicit representation of change provides the most
parsimonious explanation for both past and present findings.